Structural Glass and Slim Sliding Doors in Luxury Belgian Home
This new build home in Belgium has been designed to resemble the morphology of a butterfly, after overcoming challenges when a limit for the footprint of the house was imposed. Dhoore Vanweer Architecten designed the luxury new build down to the last detail, including the L shaped courtyard that has been designed to frame the exterior courtyard and the mirrored glass façade on one elevation.
Located within a residential park, the architects took inspiration from the homeowner’s butterfly collection to create a unique floorplan. The design follows the rough shape of a butterfly, with a body and two wings which contain the kitchen, dining room, lounge and a study on the ground floor. The bedrooms are on the first floor, which is slightly smaller than the ground floor but follows the same shape.
Curved architectural glazing has been incorporated into the structural glass façade design, creating a gentle curve in the glass to create a fluid shape and avoid harsh lines. For this butterfly inspired home, slim framed sliding glass door solutions were used to create entire walls of moving glass walls, in keeping with the minimal design of the structural glass walls. The exceptionally slim 21mm sightlines of the slim framed sliding glass doors in Belgium offer a very similar look to the slim silicone joins between panes in the floor to ceiling glass walls, creating a coherent design. The same floor finish has been used inside and outside in the courtyard area, allowing fluid movement between the two environments.
The framed sliding glass doors in Belgium have allowed an indoor-outdoor style of living to be achieved, where the two environments are able to be fully merged when the doors are slid open. The flush threshold detail, part of the minimal windows® base track detail, enables step free travel to the swimming pool area when the doors are opened and the exquisite home even features opening corner sliding door systems, creating a floating roof effect.
The first floor was entirely wrapped in floor to ceiling architectural glazing and specified with a mirrored glass finish. The reflective glass coating creates a mirror for the surrounding wildlife and nature, offering privacy to the homeowners whilst minimising the impact of the luxury home on the surrounding landscape.
In terms of architectural design, planning and detail, there is one interesting factor that only the sharpest architect could spot. Without analysing the design you would not know that the entire project was based on a grid size of 1,2 metres, with every tile aligned to that grid. This means that every height is at 60cm and every width is 120cm, or is a multiple of one of those numbers.
The interior design has been kept light and airy, with open shelving used throughout the kitchen and living area to maintain a continuous flow from room to room. Warm wood tones have been used in conjunction with a white colour palette to add some depth without disrupting the clean and minimal interior design.